Spurs pay dearly for roster continuity

LOS ANGELES — Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t need a crystal ball or a flux capacitor to predict what his team might look like in three years.

All he needs is a copy of the current roster.

“You’re looking at it,” Popovich said. “That is what it will look like.”

The announcement Saturday that All-Star point guard Tony Parker had agreed to a four-year extension worth nearly $50 million was the latest stanza in a seven-month shopping spree meant to lock down the core of the team for the immediate future.

Since April, the Spurs have also given multi-year extensions or new deals to guard Manu Ginobili, small forward Richard Jefferson and backup center Matt Bonner, all of whom are already in their 30s.

The Spurs’ front office, headed by Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford, places a premium on continuity. To them, it is comforting to know the team that returns to Staples Center tonight to face the L.A. Clippers will look awfully similar to the team that will take the floor for years to come.

“Continuity and corporate knowledge have always been something that’s helped us over the years,” Popovich said. “We obviously think it’s very important. That’s why we did it.”

The going rate for corporate knowledge these days: about $146 million. That’s roughly the amount the Spurs have committed to extensions or new contracts over the past seven months.

The bill for stability will come due soon enough.

A lot can happen between now and 2012-13, but assuming the Spurs’ salary structure stays the same, the team will pay a 35-year-old Ginobili, a 32-year-old Jefferson, a 32-year-old Bonner and a 30-year-old Parker more than $40 million that season.

To Spurs players, the front office’s show of allegiance to the team’s core serves as a sign it believes in the roster as constructed, now and in the future.

“It feels like they trust us,” Ginobili said. “Even though the last three years haven’t been as successful as the previous three, they trust us. They know we have a good team, and good people, too.”

Tim Duncan, the player in the locker room whose voice means most, called news of Parker’s extension “great for us.”

“Now he can relax and continue to push himself and play great,” Duncan said.

Perhaps more than anyone else, Ginobili can speak to the comfort of contractual security. It took until April last season for him to earn his own three-year, $40-million extension.

The season-long negotiations, he admits now, took a toll.

Ginobili believes Parker’s quick extension isn’t just good for Parker, but for the team at large.

“The brain of the team having one less thing to worry about, playing free of that thought, is important,” Ginobili said.

In the near-term, Parker’s extension — which on average will pay him about $1 million less per season than the $13.5 million he’s making now — heads off a potential distraction. In the longer term, the Spurs’ seven-month spending binge could mean committing millions to players after they pass their primes.

That doesn’t take into account Duncan, the franchise icon, whose current contract expires after next season but hasn’t ruled out playing beyond that.

In addition, payroll could be tight when it comes time to re-up with ascending guard George Hill, who will be looking for a hefty raise when his rookie-scale deal expires after next season.

“At some point, every team changes,” Popovich said. “We want to transition as we move forward and continue to be a good team that competes at the highest levels.”

As the Spurs transition to the future, there are sure to be some new faces. Over the past seven months, however, the Spurs have ensured there will be some old faces around as well.